The present invention relates generally to a cyber learning, conferencing, meeting system that increases user participation and involvement. In this application, the words teacher, professor, moderator, speaker, trainer, and similar terms are used interchangeably. Also the words student, participant, attendee, trainee, and similar terms are used interchangeably. The word user represents the members of any of the two groups above. It is understood that the description of the present invention is characterized in the context of courses and classes for simplicity without loss of generality of applications to other arrangements and settings.
The present invention transmits audio and video feeds from a location to users across a network. Despite technological advances and widespread use of the Internet for distant education, the on-line courses and the cyber learning/conferencing concept faces the following limitations:                Online courses/meetings are suitable for conceptual subjects that do not have laboratory elements.        It is difficult to deliver online courses/conferences if not impossible for subjects with hands-on activities such as technology, engineering or sciences, in which laboratory experimentation is an integral part.        In dual-mode courses/meetings with hands-on or laboratory components that encompass both on-site and off-site participants, the on-site students and attendees may have the opportunity to interact with the instructor and other on-site attendees on a particular lab experiment. However, the remote or off-site students or participants' opportunity to interact in real-time and in a synchronous manner with the instructor, on-site peers, or other off-site attendees is limited. Therefore, interactive collaboration and group experimentation and activities are impractical for all but the on-site students.        
Description of the Known Art
Currently, online learning/conferencing technologies such as Skype, BB Collaborate, etc. are capable of delivery and communication of voice and video. The major thrust of current systems is to facilitate face-to-face dialogue. In other words, these systems are designed to allow people to see each other's faces while conversing.
Such inflexibility causes the current systems to be insufficient for use in a laboratory environment with multiple experimental stations that may need to be used in real-time, in any order or sequence or in parallel. The current systems are neither effective nor efficient when used in laboratory environments, courses with hands-on components, or courses that teachers and participants need to move and when the location of activities is dynamic and changes frequently.
Patents and patent applications disclosing relevant information are disclosed below. These patents and patent applications are hereby expressly incorporated by reference in their entirety.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,791,603 issued to Lazo, et al. on Sep. 14, 2004 (“the '603 patent”) teaches a system that tracks and electronically identifies assets from surveillance zone to surveillance zone within a controlled area. The '603 patent teaches that a triggering event, which can be the output of an RFID reader, or other event, initiates video tracking of the asset that is associated with the RFID tag or other trigger. The video surveillance taught by the '603 patent continues from zone to zone, as the image of the asset is handed-off from camera to camera. The image of the asset taught by the '603 patent can be selectively displayed and recorded, along with the identity of the asset. The '603 patent teaches that the system is programmable for use in a plurality of different environments and surveillance zones, using a plurality of different triggering sensors and video cameras.
U.S. Publication No. 20100033575 to Lee, et al. on Feb. 11, 2010 (“the '575 publication”) teaches an event surveillance system that includes: a network camera for monitoring real-time video images to perform event tracking on an event occurred therein; and at least one machine-to-machine agent, connected to the network camera and devices in a network, for providing protocols for data communications between the network camera and the devices. If the machine-to-machine agent receives information on the event occurred in the network camera, the machine-to-machine agent taught by the '575 publication requests the devices to provide event information for use in verifying accuracy of the event and verifies the accuracy of the event based on the event information provided by the devices. The network camera taught by the '575 publication monitors in real time the event verified to be accurate.
The known art does not provide the ease of transitioning between audio/video feeds made capable by the present invention. The ease of transmitting different feeds among users enables the present invention to be used in a learning environment in which users travel to different zones. The feeds are then transmitted to users according to the feeds designated for each user.